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Another one of those "best
synths ever made"! Maybe it seems as if there
were too many "best off" analog synths, but
comparing the SH-5 with other instruments simply
leads to the result that this particular machine
is in some points unbeatable. It's the peak of
Roland's SH-serie, it's the "best of that
bunch", as Martin Newcomb describes it.
The SH-serie comprises SH-1,
SH-2, SH-3(A), SH-5, SH-7, SH-9, later on even
the SH-101 (that offers a totally different
design)... And don't forget those early
preset-synths SH-1000 und SH-2000... Latest
instruments (virtual analog) with nostalgic
SH-names (SH-32...) might not have too much in
common with classics such as SH-5, SH-7 or
SH-09...
The SH-5 might be the best of
all. I owned SH-1 (lovely synth, not too many
features), SH-09 (even more cut-down, but sounds
perfect!), SH-101 (interesting with its smart
little sequencer) and still own the totally
unusual SH-3. SH-5's predecessor might be quite
interesting as well: the SH-7 offers vast
modulation possibilities, but concerning its
filter quality there are pro's and con's as well
among musicians...
In 1976...
Roland was not a tremendously
serious name on the synthesizer-market. Moog and
ARP dominated the field and Oberheim started to
make its own name. Korg was little known
although Kitaro already made loads of music with
his all-time-favourits Korg 700S and others
(maybe Korg's team used all money designing the
PS-serie?). Yamaha was in the same class -
little known for its synthesizers. Well, SY-1
and SY-2 had no chance on the synth-market
dominated by Minimoog- and ARP-sound...
Making the SH-serie attractive
to musicians Roland had to feature its
instruments with special modules. SH-3 e.g.
offers a unique five-stage oscillator (and a
really dull filter, what a shame!). Its
successor SH-5 was designed even more
excellent...
Global features and
design
The SH5 comes in a solid
case. This makes the instrument in total really
heavy. The good thing is that many SH-5 are in
excellent cosmetic condition these days - due to
the lovely case. Its wood is really massive - no
comparison to ARP-2600's thin pseudo-case. If
you take off the cover, the instrument is ready
to play. And the power cord has its own
compartment on the backside (being closed with a
small door). Truely vintage-style of the
mid-70ies.
Pic: heavily modified SH-5 by
RICHARD
The keyboard is a nightmare.
Sadly it's found on many Rolands, such as
SH-1/2/3/5/7/09 and Jupiter-4, VP-330 (first
version) etc... It offers no pleasant feeling at
all, and double-trigger usually are a real
problem. Yamaha offered at the same time
keyboards of much higher quality, so did Korg
and Moog...
Nevertheless - overall design
of the instrument is brilliant! The control
panel sits in a perfect angle in front of the
musician (similar to the Minimoog). It offers
good overview - you never get lost on a SH-5...
Features
2
VCOs, 2 LFOs, S/H, ringmodulator, noise, mixer,
multi-VCF, BandPassFilter, VCA, one and a half
ENVs... that's ok for an analog synth! All
packed in a sort of half-modular concept. Well,
and there are heaps of connections backwards.
The "Controllers" next to the keyboard are not
bad as well..
BandPassFilter
It's the instrument's u-n-i-q-u-e
feature. Maybe one of the best sounding filter
ever produced. Its power is overwhelming, sounds
are truely aggressive and "pure analog". The
BPFilter can be fade in and out continously...
most of the SH-5 soundfiles on bluesynths use
this simple feature - listen to them!
Beside this specific filter
there's the instrument's actual
MultiModeFilter
Another unusual design considering
this is a Roland! Do you know any other SH with
more than a LPF? (Maybe there's a manual HPF in
addition, that's all...)
However, this MultiModeFilter
offers LPF, BPF and HPF. Further, resonance is
extremely brilliant, giving the sound a lot of
musical depth.
So finally you've got a nice
switchable LP/BP/HP-filter with a separate
BandPassFilter in addition. Not too bad, hm?
That means sound quality and
-variety of this synthesizer go far beyond all
other SH-instruments. (Although the SH-serie in
general sounds superb! The small SH-09 e.g.
produces just enormous musical textures,
certainly not really versatile, but surprisingly
powerful).
By the way: VCF-IN is offered
at the backside. Just connect a
Midi-CV-interface or start your analog sequencer
to control filter frequency. What a shame the
separate BandPassFilter offers no CV-IN! This
would be perfect...
Ringmodulator and noise
are quite important for those crazy
fx-sounds. Rolands rather usual RM can hardly be
compared with Yamaha's state-of-the-art-RM of
the polyphonic CS, but still it's flexible
designed with a sort of source-matrix. Lovely
design, really...
Pink and white noise are
offered as well (switchable, not continously
available as on the ARP-2600).
 ___
Mixer
Each
of the five audio sources can be mixed
individually: VCO1, VCO2, RM, NOISE and AUDIO-IN
(Ext-IN).
That's very useful. Think of a
hard-synced VCO-sound coupled with a shimmer of
ringmodulation... But the single feature of
mixing audio sources is not all: the SH-5 offers
a switch-matrix to run each source either
through the VCF, VCF and BPF, only through BPF
or directly via the VCA...
You simply have 5 audio sources
with 4 different routing-possibilities...
Sounds
This is a dangerous synth: who ever
plays it usually wants to keep it! Especially
the powerful BandPassFilter produces extremely
characterful sounds no other analog synth is
capable off.
The SH-5 is your favourite
instrument if you like
- powerful basses [they are always mentioned
at first, why?]
- percussive sequenzer-sounds
- arpeggio-like-sounds
- experimental RM/FX-sounds
Don't look out for the SH-5 if you want
- natural sounding lead voices (keep an eye on
the polyphonic CS!!!)
- string sounds (at least my SH-5 has no clue
how to create them)
SH-5 today
It's not easy
estimating the SH-5's value. Sound character and
some features are totally unique, so how is it
possible determing a price? If you really want
one you might be willing to pay 2000 Euro. There
is no substitute for this machine, so its price
is theoretically open-end...
I exaggerate, sure. Street prices range
between 900 and 1200-1300 Euro. Normally the
SH-5 comes in very good cosmetical condition
(thanks to the lovely case-design). Double
trigger appear with every SH-synth, but cleaning
the key's inside usually helps. Beside the
low-quality keyboard the SH-5 is a geniously
designed and well-equipped instrument.
Listen to the soundfiles and let your ears
decide about this instrument's value...
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